In 1985

We had moved back to SF after spending three months on the cheap riding night trains in Europe and seeing great art in the Museums of the Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Italy, France & England. 

I applied for a job at a bookstore downtown after seeing an ad in the want ads. I'd worked in the photo industry as a custom photo printer at a bunch of different labs. Santa Cruz's Film Stop at 44th Ave and Hexco on Laurel street. My first job was in 1983 at the New England Color Lab in Lynn, MA. I'd studied photography at college and had a degree in Studio Art but more importantly I'd worked in the darkroom. I was hired on the spot. I was trained by the guy in the darkroom next to mine. He spent most of the training bitching about the other people who worked there. He took me to a sandwich shop and I had my first Hero sandwich - like a submarine sandwich, with oil and vinegar meat and cheese. I'd never had anything so good. Yum!

One day he got me stoned at lunch and that didn't go so well.

Banging on the door.

"What are you doing in there?!"

I guess I'd spent a long time doing some test prints.

"Um I can't remember what I'm doing."

WBCN was blasting J. Geils from the radio in my dark room. 

"My memory has just been sold, my angel in the centerfold!"

No more getting stoned at work for me.